Biaggi (GEM)

In 1945 Francesco Biaggi (1910-1995) started a company in Milan called GEM (Giocattoli Elettro Meccanici = Electrical Mechanical Toys). Initially focusing on 0 gauge trains, from 1947 the firm also produced H0/00 gauge trains, showing them for the first time at the Milan fair of that year. Until around 1955 it produced 00 trains under both the trademarks "Biaggi" and "GEM".  Initially, the AC power supply system used 4 rails, with the inductor coils of the motor connected to the two inner rails, while the ground was supplied by the two outer rails, which were not isolated from each other. This system was also used by another small Italian H0/00 gauge manufacturer, COS.MO, and was called on the packaging "system Biaggi". It remained in use until 1949, when it disappeared in favour of the ‘standard’ system of three rail AC. This three-rail track was similar to the pre-war Märklin 3600 track, but with brass running rails and a steel alloy centre rail.

Track, points (switches) and accessories like signals, lamps, overhead catenary and fences for the 0 gauge range were supplied by another Milanese company FEM (Ferrovie Elettriche in Miniatura).

From around 1955 the trademark GEM was no longer used and Biaggi produced exclusively 0 and 1 gauge trains under his own name.

B.t.w, the name GEM was also used by three other manufacturers of H0 gauge trains: in France by George Ernest Merli, also of Italian origin, in 1951 to market tin toy trains partly built under license from the German company Konrad Dressler (this firm was later acquired by France-Jouets), in Great Britain by George E. Mellor, who started in the model train trade in 1929 and from the mid-60s produced kit superstructures for 00 gauge and narrow gauge locomotives, later also for TT and who ran his company until his death in 1994, and finally in the USA the name GEM was used from 1958 until the late 60s by a company importing Japanese hand-built brass models.

Biaggi continued making 0 and 1 gauge models of Italian locos and rolling stock and started to produce replicas of Märklin tinplate trains and also made small numbers of detailed locomotives in both gauges. His products were particularly popular with owners of tinplate 0 and 1 gauge layouts in Germany and Switzerland. Production was always low and as Biaggi trains also tend to suffer from ‘zinc pest’ (zamak warpage and shrinkage), Biaggi is nowadays considered rare and therefore expensive. It is unclear when Biaggi ended production; possibly in the late 1980s.